Pune: The police have arrested the driver of the water tanker which collided with a mini-bus on Pune-Ahmednagar road on Sunday, killing seven persons.

All the deceased, including two women, were software professionals working with different IT firms in the city, senior police inspector Sarjerao Patil said. Last evening, six persons died on the spot and seven others were injured when the private mini-bus in which they were travelling collided with the water tanker near Lonikand village, about 40 kms from here. One of the injured persons succumbed later at a hospital on Sunday night, Patil said.

The victims were returning from a friend's wedding in Ahmednagar district. Patil said when the mini-bus reached near Lonikand, the water tanker coming from the opposite direction veered off the road. It then rammed into the road divider, jumped on the other side of the road and collided with the mini-bus. "It seems that the water tanker was being driven in a rash and negligent manner. The tanker driver apparently lost control over the wheels following which the vehicle collided with the bus," he said. The tanker also hit a car which was behind the bus, he said.

The tanker driver, Krushna Kitarwad (22), was arrested in the early hours of Monday, Patil said. Kitarwad has been booked under IPC sections pertaining to rash and negligent driving and also under section 304 part II, for offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under which the imprisonment may extend up to 10 years.

He has also been booked under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act, the police officer said. Sameer Gaikwad, one of the bus passengers who sustained minor injuries in the accident, said, "We all are shocked. We are yet to come to terms with the tragedy."